Georges St-Pierre explains why the fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov didn’t happen, ‘the UFC did not want it’
UFC fans want to see the best fighters face off against the best fighters. With the creation of MMA superstars and then super fights the UFC was able to give the fans what they wanted. It was now possible for two champions to fight each other. It was possible for Conor McGregor, who is the most popular fighter to move from one weight class to another to face the biggest names available. Perhaps fans got greedy and wanted to see the greatest fighters against each other, such as Georges St-Pierre vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov. That is a fight that everyone wanted to see, even the fighters themselves. Everyone that is except the UFC apparently. St-Pierre was a guest on the Freedom Pact Podcast where he explained why that fight never came to be.
“We tried to organize a fight with Khabib before I retired,” St-Pierre said. “We were in talks. Khabib wanted it, I wanted it, but the UFC did not want it. They said they had other plans.”
Even though both men are now retired, the possibility of them facing each other is a hot topic of conversation. When Nurmagomedov fought at UFC 254, many thought he would win and then fight a big name such as St-Pierre for his last fight in the UFC making him an even 30-0 before retiring. However, Nurmagomedov had other plans.
“Like everybody else, when Khabib fought his last fight against Justin Gaethje, I was doing the French broadcast, I thought he was going to call me out and it would pressure the UFC to organize that fight, but he retired,” St-Pierre said. “So now it is really out of the picture.”
There has been word that Dana White will be speaking with Nurmagomedov in the near future to try and persuade him to return, but it seems that St-Pierre is putting his return behind him.
“I felt like I didn’t have peace,” St-Pierre explained. “I felt that if I would have stopped after Hendricks, I didn’t feel good. I didn’t want to have regret, to be 85 years old and thinking ‘I could have done it and I did not take the opportunity.’ Now I am in peace. The Khabib did not happen, but so what? I am in peace right now with myself.”
If we never get to see these two fighters face off against each other the question will always remain, who would win. They can both be in that conversation for the greatest of all time, and maybe they both are in their own ways.
